and for a very nice change, we get to end tonight on a good note. for six grueling days, theresa nash had no idea where her sons were. they'd been on a trip with their father but didn't come home christmas eve. police said their dad had them but no one knew where he'd taken them. she came here to this show to ask you for help. and you did that. she's clutching her teddy bears in tears, their teddy bears. because you paid attention, she's on her way right now to reunion with her boys, ben and henry. congratulations. thank you, audience. you did good stuff tonight. from the cnn world headquarters in atlanta, thank you for watching so much. i'm don lemon. have a great night.

shuffle the deck, roll the dice and give the wheel a spin. america took chances this year. gambling on whether to keep the old president or pick a new one. betting on a better economy. coming up snake eyes in some places and dealing wild cards in other. now we've got the oddsmakers to break it all down. from cbs' "the talk, ayesha tyler, ben stein, julie mason, and stand-up guy, pete dominick. cnn's own isha sesay, "the cake boss's buddy valastro. on "a.c. 360's" all the best, all the worst, 2012. welcome. i'm tom foreman and this was a year for living dangerously. whether flirting with the fiscal cliff or skydiving from the edge of space or just buying a

powerball ticket, risk-taking was back in vogue. and as we head into the new year, we're going to look back at all the risky business that brought us here, in the economy, in entertainment, in sports, in pop culture, in technology, and in the biggest, baddest game of all. give it to the twin pillars of politics, the relentless candidates barack obama and mitt romney, for waging the best and worst presidential campaign of the year. >> thank you, thank you, thank you! >> thank you so much! >> best, because it was at times, a riveting battle for control of the nation. worst because it often became a war of cheap shots, questionable facts, and everything else that just exhausts voters. >> i don't think there's anything else that immediately, so completely sucked up all the

energy, all oxygen in the year. >> to enforce the law -- >> worst republican roulette. the party primary that seemed to have a new up and coming favorite, every ten minutes. rick perry, herman cain, michele bachmann, newt gingrich, rick santorum. >> what a freak show, right? that whole primary season. but it was fun. i mean, it was democracy in all its messiness and glory, with issues, but also some crazy stuff. ♪ america, america >> it was fascinating to watch, the party sort of trying to define itself. >> what do you want me to tell romney? >> worst empty chair supposedly occupied by the president. >> i can't tell him to do that. he can't do that to himself. >> the one that actor clint eastwood spoke to during his mumbling, stumbling convention speech. >> go ahead -- >> make my day!

>> worst empty podium, supposedly occupied by the president, the one he actually stood at during the first debate. >> everybody gave clint eastwood such a hard time about that empty chair. that empty chair was exactly who showed up at the first debate. >> the audience here in the hall has promised to remain silent. >> well, i think that barack obama definitely in the first debate got smoked. >> but you've been president four years. you've been president four years. said you'd cut the deficit in half. it's now four years later. we still have trillion-dollar deficits. >> it's quite a roller-coaster, where for a long time it was thought to be a foregone conclusion that the president would win. >> let's mention the other one. >> let's not. let's let him respond. >> while mitt romney came on strong, the president's lackluster performance, looking down, scowling, growling, left many democrats stunned. >> they all assumed the fetal position and sobbed in unison. that was terrible. it was hard to watch.

but some of the analysis afterwards i think really exposed some deficiencies in the democratic machine. >> for the republicans, it was arguably the best moment of the whole year for their candidate. >> i don't think his campaign really kicked into high gear until that first debate, when he started to get some momentum. >> unfortunately for romney -- ♪ oh, baby >> it was also the best wake-up call for president obama, who came alive in the next two encounters. >> we've got to reduce our deficit, but we've got to do it in a balanced way. >> worst number 47, as in percent. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. >> mitt romney may have said it only once during that fund-raiser, but he heard it over and over and over again. >> i've had it up to here with this notion that 47%, it's about time they take some responsibility here. >> when he said behind closed

doors that 47% of the country consider themselves victims, who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about. >> they both beat each other up. and at the end of the day, i don't think either one was a bad guy. >> best campaigner. a guy who wasn't even running. former president bill clinton. best comic relief, vice president joe biden. best trend in political reporting, the big bump in fact checks, even though the candidates pretty much ignored them. best budget wonk pinup to drive the democrats crazy. vp candidate paul ryan. >> there was a lot of googling about, what does paul ryan think about the economy, what does paul ryan think about entitlements? the number one googled item about paul ryan was "paul ryan shirtless." so thanks, p90x. >> the worst way to show your true colors. the guy who had the romney/ryan logo tattooed on his face. hey, pal, ever hear of bumper stickers? best fund-raising. both sides stuffed their piggy banks until they squealed. total amount raised and spent by

the parties and their supporters, nearly $6 billion, or enough to hire 3,600 extra teachers for ten years. just saying. worst running mates. other republican candidates who crushed their party's hope for taking the senate with comments about women, rape, and abortion. not that democrats exactly thrilled america either. worst thing in all of politics, once again this year, the united states congress. which, according to gallup, voters trust now just slightly more than car dealers. >> the good thing for congress, there's nowhere to go but up. >> they have no faith in the government at all. >> best way to keep the polls going down, that delaying tactic called sequestration. neither party wanted to tackle tough budget issues before the election, so they kicked the can down the road, right to the edge of the fiscal cliff. and of course, they blamed each other. best surprise for supporters of

gay rights. state victories and supreme court consideration for same-sex marriage, the election of the first openly lesbian u.s. senator, and president obama finally coming around to their cause. >> my expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians, whether in the office or on the battlefield. >> it's equality. you know, people should be able to do whatever they really want in life. >> worst disappointment for supporters of comprehensive immigration reform. the president promised, but won't be able to deliver until his second term, although he did issue an executive order, allowing children of many undocumented workers, to stay in the u.s. for college. best supreme court win for the white house, health care reform remains the law of the land. >> i'm sure we'll still be talking about in 2013, but, you know, the big overhaul that was promised by republicans, that's not going to happen.

>> worst caveat for the administration. the court said no getting around it. it does involve taxing the middle class. worst loss for anti-drug forces. legalized marijuana is gaining ground. >> i hate marijuana. i loathe it. i think it's a really bad thing. but it's not up to me to tell people whether or not they can use it. >> and ultimately, the best thing for the democrats, mitt romney's persistent, perplexing, and positively crushing inability to connect with voters. >> he went into a hardware store. he came out and reporters asked him what he bought, he actually said -- >> uh, hardware stuff. >> i'll never forget when mitt romney reached down and shook hands with a 6-year-old boy. reached down and shook hands -- the kid's 6, mitt! >> i do not think mr. romney ran that great campaign. i think he was, he's not a charismatic person. i think a charismatic republican would have won. i don't think we had a particularly great platform.

i don't think we invited in the hispanics the way we should have. but, it'll be -- it'll change. next time, maybe we'll get a better candidate. but in the meantime, life goes on and little by little, our problems will get solved. >> and come election night, at least one of barack obama's problems was solved. best end for democrats to a long, troubled race, re-election. >> coming up, high rollers, honey boo-boo, and the prince who had no pants, when "all the best, all the worst" rolls on. a? it's lots of things. all waking up. connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away.

we're going to wake the world up. and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. cisco. tomorrow starts here.

in this year of big bets, quite a few high rollers grabbed headlines with their very bold wagers, and yet, few came up winning quite like one lady who's been in the game a while. best royal flush. the whole british royal family, starting with the queen, who celebrated her diamond jubilee.

that's 60 years on the throne and still swinging a scepter. >> here's a sign of continuity in a world of change, that england still has a monarchy and that the queen has been there so long and has served so incredibly, unbelievably well. god bless her. >> she's old. she's wicked old. but, you know, still awesome. >> you know, if you make it to the diamond jubilee birthday, you deserve a big cake. too bad the queen didn't call me. i would have loved to have made her cake. that was the only problem. they messed up. they should have had me bake the cake. >> worst play on the eight ball, prince harry spotted with his cue out in nevada. ♪ >> god bless him. god bless him. if i was a prince, i probably would be playing strip pool too. the guy's been cooped up in a palace his whole life. >> he was in vegas with his buddies and partying and probably got a little crazy.

you know, i feel bad for him. you know, he should have been smarter to make sure nobody took any pictures. >> speaking of overexposures, worst spy cam. the one that caught duchess catherine topless on vacation. >> that's just wrong. i never looked at those, by the way. but i did look at the harry nude photos. now, those were exciting. >> it's one of these movie stars or whatever who are always like tweeting pictures of themselves topless, kim kardashian, courtney love, that kind of thing. it's like, yeah, whatever, i can draw those from memory. but kate is, she's modest. >> still, there was some best news for the newlyweds. the palace is expecting the pitter-patter of a little prince or princess soon. on this side of the pond, it was a hard year to be in the privileged class, as politicians

and voters declare they've had enough of the rich getting richer. >> it was. it really became like group sport, didn't it? like, we're hunting them with pitchforks and we're brandishing torches. tax them! there's a real mood afoot in the country with regard to the very rich right now. >> the powerful took hits too. hardest fall from a high place, david petraeus. whose biographer turned out to be writing not so much between the lines as between the sheets. >> whoa! it was so salacious. it was something you'd expect to find, like, in a tabloid on the front page of a tabloid. >> everybody liked him. both sides of the aisle were big fans of david petraeus. but, it just goes to show you that power corrupts and ultimate power gets you laid.

>> paula broadwell, she's a very capable, durable human being. she'll emerge from this with a huge book deal and maybe her own talk show. but mrs. petraeus, i just feel terrible for. >> other bad breaks. "newsweek" magazine folds, at least the print edition, going away after almost 80 years. it's all digital, now. hostess beaten down by financial troubles hands pink slips to 18,000 workers and walking papers to its signature products, including twinkies. the nobel committee inexplicably decides this year's peace prize should go to the entire european union. that's more than a half billion people. >> hasn't the nobel peace prize been somewhat devalued in the past few years. of course the eu got one. you'll get one next. i got three. it's all right. >> and lance armstrong, super cyclist, cancer fighter, and

all-around american hero was sent rolling right out of the record books for doping. say it ain't so, lance! >> i couldn't believe that. i really couldn't. i mean, it amazed me how often he won and it just is heartbreaking. say it ain't so. >> actually, he has. a lot of times. it's just that sports officials aren't buying it anymore. >> i think we have to look at cycling as a whole, as a sport. because i think the thing to take away wasn't that lance armstrong cheated, but that everybody cheats. and maybe, and i'm not saying this is the way to go, but maybe you just stop banning substances and let everybody go nuts and you just have giant guys with huge, roided muscles on tiny little bikes riding around like circus bears. >> best really high roller, felix baumgartner, who jumped from space, 24 miles up, and fell faster than the speed of sound, to break the world's

skydiving record, held since 1960 by joe kittinger. >> i was very disappointed this year that the skydiving record was broken by an austrian. come on, american daredevils! fly high! >> three, two, one! >> and the highest high roller of all, we're tempted to give it to space-x. the private company that made headlines on earth with its heavenly activities this year. but the award goes to nasa's curiosity rover who flew 354 million miles to make a spectacular landing on mars. >> yes, that was fantastic! whoo-hoo! >> i haven't seen those photos and i know there was some kind of big discovery they were making. like it landed and it found like a funyuns bag or something.

>> pretty amazing. you know, what we're able the to do. i don't know exactly how far it's going to go, but like we did go land on the moon, i think that in my lifetime, i will see somebody land on mars, and you know what, i hope it's america. in a moment, the big stories that made the year matter. plus, all the best music, all the baddest tv shows, and facebook faces the music. "all the best, all the worst" continues. . because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind.

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to be sure, not everything was fun and games in 2012. and some things turned out to be quite risky, indeed. especially when it came to the big news stories that rocked american shores and stunned the rest of the world. >> there was a lot of tragedy, so i couldn't call it, you know, a good year. i don't think that's how i view it. how i feel about it. >> worst blind date. superstorm sandy. ripping up the east coast just days before the big election, it was no longer a hurricane when it hit new york and new jersey, but it was horrible just the same. taking lives, devastating thousands of homes and businesses. >> we were out of business for eight days. i mean, in a hundred years,

carlos has never closed for more than a day. i've got to be honest with you, we were lucky. a lot of families, a lot of people, a lot of businesses got destroyed. >> stunning pictures like this one showing blackouts in manhattan appeared as millions lost power, some for days, some for weeks. >> i never thought i would find out how long it takes to charge up my iphone in a honda civic. you know, the first couple days without power, it was fun. it was like, oh, i'm camping inside. the third day, i was like, i'm going to kill my neighbor for his generator. >> best bipartisan problem solving amid the wreckage. republican governor chris christie and democratic president barack obama. best guy too crazy to come in from the rain. our own ali velshi. >> at this point, if you haven't left, don't go out. >> great job, ali velshi. next time, get a helmet and anchor. >> speaking of anchors, worst drag on the economy. the relentlessly bad unemployment rate. sure, it got a little better, but 12 million americans are still out of work.

worst realization, fixing that may take much longer than even the pessimists fear. >> we can't always have 3% growth. maybe we'll just have to be happy with 0.2% growth and we're going to like. you'll have to eat your vegetables, america, eat your vegetables. >> the chickens are coming home to roost, we're going to all have some bills to pay. there's going to have to be a tax increase pretty much on everybody in the united states. >> extreme violence struck several places this year. an an attack on a sikh temple in wisconsin took six lives. the gunman was wounded by police and then killed himself. another mass shooting in colorado at a midnight premiere of "batman" left 12 people dead, 58 wounded, and a lot of questions about the alleged gunman. the incident that stunned the nation the most, however, happened in newtown, connecticut, when authorities say a gunman descended on a school and killed 20 first graders, in addition to a half-dozen adults, his mother, and himself.

>> people responded once they heard about the scene, about the situation. they responded to come and retrieve their children. and when they couldn't find their children, fear set in, panic set in, pain set in. it was fear of the unknown. and when the notification finally had been made. it was absolutely heartbreaking. >> the incident sparked an immediate and continuing debate over mental health services and gun control. >> the discussion has reemerged, as to what we might do, not only to deter mass shootings in the future, but to reduce the epidemic of gun violence that plagues this country every single day. that conversation has to continue. but this time, the words need to lead to action. >> down in florida, a single shooting grabbed headlines. teenager trayvon martin was shot and killed in a nighttime encounter with george zimmerman, who was part of a neighborhood watch program. debate has raged ever since about whether it was self-defense or something else.

zimmerman faces trial on a second-degree murder charge. >> it touches a nerve, a hot nerve, and people get emotional about it very quickly, on both sides. >> overseas -- >> you know, i think it was definitely a rough time for the world. >> worst trouble balancing the budget. give it to the greeks. although much of the european union also had a rough time with the economy this year. worst flight plan. north korea's missiles. worst power play. iran's nuclear program. worst continuing conflict, syria. worst strike against american diplomacy, the attack in benghazi, libya, that killed american ambassador, chris stevens and three others. best boots on the ground. u.s. troops in afghanistan, almost a dozen years after they were sent, still waging the longest war in american history. and best and worst continuing turmoil. give it to egypt. a big player in the arab spring. it's still stumbling toward

better days. >> democracy is not easy. we've been cruz on awesome democratic auto pilot for a long time now. and, you know, our idea of democracy is signing a facebook petition. so we're seeing what fighting for real democracy is like. >> worst navigation. the "costa concordia" sailed is into the headlines and stayed there for weeks after as many as 32 people were killed when the cruise ship ran aground off the coast of italy. >> that ship listing around and just the horrible stories that came out of it. that was awful to watch. >> best antidote to all the worst international news, the summer olympics in london. >> it was a wonderful time for britain. >> the opening and closing ceremonies were totally bewildering. i mean, the wok of mad people. but, the sports themselves were fabulous. >> the u.s. won the most medals and the guy doing the best imitation of flipper won the

most of all. the baltimore bullet, michael phelps, now has, count them, 22. >> i mean, you look at all the medals he has and he looks like he's got the mr. clean starter kit on. and you know, i'm just very proud of him and proud that he's an american. >> the u.s. also had big wins in tennis, shooting, boxing, and the fab five got it on in gymnastics. >> i love gabby douglas, the flying squirrel. i'm not sure if that's a great nickname or not, but she won the gold, she captured america's heart. >> best and worst reaction to it all, mckayla maroney, not impressed. >> that was hilarious, when she did not approve. what a cutie. she just brings the darkness, but great athlete. >> as for the best of the best, in american pro sports, in baseball -- >> the san francisco giants won the world series, but nobody knows. >> in basketball, miami brought the heat to take the trophy. in hockey, los angeles took the

cup, and then the whole league took a powder over a labor dispute. >> people don't want to hear it. shut it, get on the ice, lace them up. >> in football -- >> oh, yeah, i'm a giants fan, baby. that's right, we won the super bowl this year. just saying. >> the contract dispute that had rent-a-refs ruling early this fall gave us the worst blown call. get the police, green bay was robbed. and even though notre dame and alabama are headed for a colossal college collision, give the play of the year to little lincoln university's marty tenner. hello is right! next, going gangnam. amazon makes a huge bet. and faking amish. it's all the best, all the worst and it's coming up. ♪ ooh baby, looks like you need a little help there ♪

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the world of pop culture came up aces this year as performers around the planet tried to stave off the economic blues. in movies, television, music, and especially in one international smash. ♪ gangnam style >> love it or hate it, the best

song of the year, gangnam style, from south korean pop star, psy, was viewed close to a billion times on youtube and parodied over and over again. ♪ gangnam style >> i'm a huge k-pop fan, and i think that "gangnam style" is just a song we've kind of all been introduced to because of that ridiculous horse dance. ♪ hey, sexy lady >> and that adorable, slightly rotund psy, who's the cutest thing ever. you want to pinch his cheeks, he's like a pokeman character. ♪ i wasn't looking for this >> another big hit was the best call of the canadian wild from carly rae jepsen. ♪ this is crazy ♪ here's my number ♪ so call me maybe >> did anybody really like "call me, maybe"? >> i'm a fan of that song and i i have watched the video more times than a grown woman should. so, yes.

>> there were plenty of other strong contenders for musical honors. the black keys, kelly clarkson, taylor swift. f.u.n. had a blast. springsteen took care of his own and goyte got noticed. ♪ you treat me like a stranger and i feel so rough ♪ >> when it hit a million views on youtube, i obviously realized something kind of crazy was happening. >> but for our money, bet on it, best new band, alabama shakes. the jumping jacks still flashing award goes to mick and the boys, still rolling stones after 50 years. >> okay, the rolling stones are actually older than the median age on the u.s. supreme court. how did that happen? what -- and yet, they still kind of rock, though, don't they? >> how rare is it for a band of rock and rollers to still be playing long after they're living on ensure and have had

like multiple hip replacements. >> in television, speaking of throwbacks, best end to a long run. abc's soap opera "one life to live" finally died after 43 years on the air. >> when i was a speechwriter for mr. nixon, long, long years ago, one of my great delights, to take my mind off the horror of watergate was to watch soap operas on tv. i'm sad to see them disappearing. >> that's okay. nothing really dies on tv, does it? >> i'm all about "walking dead." i'm all about zombie fiction. >> i'm all about the "true blood" and "the game of thrones." those really are my shows. >> i've always believed that. >> other fan favorites "homeland," "magic city," "dexter." >> how can i pass up an opportunity to look at our future house? >> "parks & recreation," and reality tv grinds on.

>> this season is going to be amazing. it's going to be the best season ever. >> with dance moms, tattoo kings, punk and chunkers. >> we're at the piggly wiggly to do some extreme couponing! >> and of course, the best reality star of the year, honey boo-boo. >> they call me honey boo-boo child. >> yeah, honey boo-boo actually was hilarious, and to me, it was really funny. we enjoyed it. we watched it. you know, kind of like a guilty pleasure. >> honey boo-boo, god bless her, as they say in the south. god bless her heart. >> reality tv also gave us the absolute worst show on television. "breaking amish," or as some call it, faking amish. the improbable chronicle of some supposedly amish young folks living large in the big apple. >> well, it's not just making fun of them, it's trying to portray them as kind of like sex

maniacs and secretly, secretly sex obsessed, underneath their straight-laced exterior, and i don't see what purpose that makes. i mean, young people are all sex obsessed, no matter what. so it just seemed like it was mean spirited. >> how have they harmed us, the amish? what have they done to us? they live quietly. they deserve a better tv show than that one. >> best survivors, the kardashians. still hanging around, still getting attention, and with kim taking up with kanye west, still finding ways to dazzle the stargazers. >> i know! kim k. and kanye. what? i have a secret addiction to watching the kardashians, so, i'm just letting all my business hang out in this end of year review show. >> i don't want to say anything bad about them, because i often find myself sitting next to them in restaurants in beverly hills,

so i'm not going to say anything bad about them. let's just say i don't understand them. ♪ >> worst loss, whitney houston's untimely death at the age of 48. >> i was disappointed, but i wasn't necessarily surprised. >> best comeback from the edge of calamity. lindsay lohan starring as elizabeth taylor in "liz and dick." >> please. please! >> lindsay! >> worst fall right back to where she was -- >> i know, lindsay lohan, the trouble just doesn't end for her. you know, she may win the prize for person who had one of the worst years. certainly, the prize amongst celebrities. >> at the movies, best box office goes to marvel's "the avengers." it's made more than $600 million so far, according to box office

mojo, but not far behind, look out, here comes "the dark knight." >> i'm a huge batman fan. so, um, i was absolutely thrilled by that movie and how it ended and how it set up this next chapter, as we saw the birth of robin. >> these will irritate your eyes at first. >> fantasy adventures pretty much ruled the silver screen. >> i'm officially off "twilight" and on to "hunger games," but that's just like saying that you're off of tea and on to slightly weaker tea. >> i don't get to see a lot of movies, because i have kids, but i did get out to see one movie and that movie was "lincoln." just give daniel day-lewis the academy award right now. >> now, now, now! >> best animation, call it a draw between "brave" and "wreck it ralph." most tedious -- >> i must warn you about something -- >> warn me? >> "anna karenina," even the book seemed tedious.

hottie of the year, channing tatum. even though some say he can't act. >> because he did that stripper movie. yeah, bring that. that's good. >> where the hell have you been? >> and the best runaway revival that had everyone talking -- >> i love, love, love the new james bond movie, "skyfall." >> oh, did you just say "bond"? >> lucky 007 blew the doors off the theaters and daniel craig rolled out what many are now calling the best bondage of all time. >> he is the best bond ever. sorry, sean. he is the best bond ever. i will fight somebody over it. it will slap fight an old lady. >> don't go anywhere! the book that gave adult websites a run for their money

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get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. the internet kept growing up this year, and in this tough economy, for many people, it became less about fiddling around and more about finding real solutions, online and offline.

worst status update. after years of anticipation, facebook went public. investors liked, but they did not love it. >> i think they were just way overvalued. >> i never thought it was going to be worth a heck of a lot. i mean, i still don't see where the -- all the revenue is going to come from that's going to make it a wildly profitable company. >> when you peel it open, what's in there? fluff. a lot of people with kitten photos and topless pictures at strip clubs and pictures of their cousins sleeping with sharpie written on his forehead. >> twitter, on the other hand, just kept growing. >> this was the first presidential campaign, for example, that played out on twitter. so even though not everyone is on twitter and it's just 140 characters, i don't think we can overstate its influence. >> pinterest picked up steam as one of the biggest and fastest growing social networks. tumblr tumbled on despite some late-year technical troubles, and instagram became another big hub to share, well, everything

about yourself. >> instagram is crazy. >> but the best internet action, amazon.com, with a share of 20% of everything that's sold online. amazon has emerged as a retail super giant. it's not just books anymore. >> you can buy a refrigerator now. you can buy a couch. you can buy anything. that company is an amazing steamroller. i have never seen a company like that, ever, in any area of anything in my life. >> best electronic gadgets. the tablet wars heated up. new smartphones dialed in. >> i own every device. i have a pad, i have a tablet, i have a mini tablet. it's just a matter of time before all my friends are robots. >> but the best new number in tech land, 5, as in the iphone 5. although apple stock later fell, initially it shot through the roof as the phone proved so popular the company struggled to meet demand. >> before the iphone came out,

there were literally economists predicting it was going to stimulate the economy and it did. >> unfortunately the worst way to find an apple store was relying on the new iphone map app. maybe that's all the more reason google was pushing hard this year on the wildest tech con at the present time, the self-driving car. three states have already made them legal. >> the self-driving car. i don't know if it's a good idea or not. it seems very minority report. >> will you buy one? >> no. but the next car i get is going to have that automatic parallel parking feature. that seems like an incredible feature. >> off the road, e-readers found their way into many more hands this year. >> i think this was really the year when e-books, the kindle, really became so popular that it's not odd to see someone holding it anymore. >> all the better with which to peruse some of the year's best books. there were plenty of top sellers, including "the hunger games" collections.

>> "outpost," what a fantastic book. >> the best book i read this year was called "ruby ridge." >> "moonwalking with einstein" was great. >> my wife read "fifty shades of grey" and she enjoyed it. i've got to say, things got a little bit more interesting in the bedroom, just saying. >> not a fan. but you know what. the ladies who need that, i'm for it.

>> our time is running out. so in just a moment, we will have our bets for all the best, all the worst in the new year. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills.

it's lots of things. all waking up. connecting to the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. we're going to wake the world up. and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. cisco. tomorrow starts here. i'm going to dream about that steak.

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i'm don lemon. here are tonight's headlines. lawmakers in washington are trying to find a last-minute compromise to stop us from going over the fiscal cliff cliff. senate aide are trading proposal. the deadline, three days away. olympia snowe points out how the latest crisis is the sign of a bigger problem in washington. >> more than anything else, what is deeply troubling is you can't get congress and the president to reach any accord on anything. >> president obama says he is optimistic congress will beat the deadline. a 31-year-old woman has been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in connection with thursday's subway death in new york city. the district attorney identified the woman as erika menendez of new york. she was seen running from the scene after the 46-year-old victim was pushed onto the tracks. prosecutors say menendez confessed saying she, quote, hates hindus and muslims. it was the second time in a month that a man's been killed by a new york subway train after being pushed on the tracks. two missing georgia boys, ben and henry cleary, have been

found safe in austin, texas. their father, the man who allegedly kidnapped them, has been taken into custody. someone at a hotel recognized the boys from the am bert alert and a cnn report. and contacted police. the brothers had been the subject of a nationwide search after their mother reported them missing just before christmas. those are your headlines this hour. i'm don lemon. keeping you informed. cnn, the most trusted name in news.

our time and luck are both running out. let's ask our oddsmakers to place their bets on whether the new year will be coming up aces or going bust. >> i bet that in 2013, america's going to do better than we did in 2012. >> if i was going to place a bet on the united states for 2013, explosive economic growth. we avoid the fiscal cliff. and i cannot wait to see it all. >> movie prices going up, things getting worse before it gets better. >> hopefully hurricane sandy is the cuyahoga river moment of 2012 and that more americans will finally realize that even though one storm can't be connected to climate change, the aggregate of extreme weather we